


Pyrrhic

by Vrishchika



Category: Doctor Strange (2016), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Tragedy, F/M, Heavy Angst, Hurt Tony Stark, M/M, Tony Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-22
Updated: 2018-05-22
Packaged: 2019-05-10 06:43:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14731922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vrishchika/pseuds/Vrishchika
Summary: Sometimes the price of winning is too high. Life is not always beautiful.





	Pyrrhic

**Author's Note:**

> Not betaed so I apologise in advance for mistakes. Also, if anyone is willing to beta read for me, please leave a comment! TW for allusions to suicide.

“It won’t work.” Thanos declared grimly as Tony put the new Infinity Gauntlet on, “The Gauntlet must be earned. If you try to undo what I have done, it will destroy you.”

 

Tony said nothing, glancing around one last time. The armor worked well, keeping Thanos contained and unable to move. Rogers and Thor kept the Titan pinned to the ground as Natasha looked on with a calculating expression. Carol was by Tony’s side, ready to protect him if Thanos managed to make one last lunge. 

It was time. 

“Hear me, Stark,” Thanos still sounded calm, “I have restored balance. Sacrifices must be made for the good of the universe. You know this. Let this quest go, live your life. You were given a second chance, don’t waste it.”

“Tony, don’t listen to him, do it!” Rogers snapped, “Don’t waste time, we don’t know what tricks he might-”

“Sacrifices,” Tony said, slowly moving his fingers into position, “Don’t talk to me about  _ sacrifices. _ ”

Everyone fell silent and Tony felt their gazes on him as he locked eyes with Thanos. The air became charged as the stones grew in power, the soul stone shining brightest of them all. 

_ Sacrifice. _

Tony felt a sob tear through him, “I hate you.”

_ Soft auburn curls brushing against his chin. A little warm angel in his arms. His own bright brown eyes. Her mother’s shy little smile. _

His voice trembled with menace, “I hate you.”

_ The most innocent of them all. Untouched by hate, her father’s solace, her mother’s comfort. _

“Tony, what?” Rogers stepped forward but Tony kept his eyes fixed on Thanos, dark fury and untold agony burning within them. Thor sucked in a breath, newly earned wisdom granting him knowledge no one else but Tony understood. 

“Anthony,” The Thunder God whispered, shaking helplessly as the man whose honor he had questioned made the most tragic sacrifice of them all. 

_ Sweet little voice. Melodious laughter. Precious, treasured beyond words. Love so furiously powerful and yet so achingly fragile. The little bright star. His entire soul. _

“I hate you.”

_ Morgan Anthony Stark. _

“I hate you.”

The soul stone grew bright.

* _ Snap _ *

***

Grief was a funny thing. It haunted you like a ghost and made you feel helpless, so nauseatingly helpless. Tony had suffered grief several times but nothing came close to  _ this. _

This horrible, gnawing pain that felt that it would consume him… no, it had already consumed him. It was like mist; deceitful and cruel. 

It was all illusion.

Hearing the sound of small feet and feeling a surge of hope for a short, painful second before reality set in. The phantom sensation of little arms wrapping around his neck and a loud kiss on his cheek. 

Hearing “daddy” in the middle of the night and sobbing because that precious,  _ precious _ little girl was gone from his life.

The world thrived around him; imperfect, rotten, beautiful, hopeful, insane, happy…  _ moving _ . But he stood still, trapped by memories. 

The world will never know. Everything was as it was before Thanos happened. Pepper was happy, blissfully ignorant of Tony’s sins. Rogers and his gang were still at large, fleeing from the law. Barnes was still in Wakanda. Wakanda still had its king. Earth was no longer the desolate, chaotic place it was after more than half of its population disappeared. 

Peter was alive, carefree and untouched by Thanos.

Morgan didn’t exist. 

She would never exist.

***

“I often wondered what kind of man you were behind all of those press smiles and showmanship.” Tony looked over his shoulder, sucking in a sharp breath when he saw Strange floating behind him. “Now I wonder how you bear it, and what you might do to escape it.”

Piercing blue eyes stared at him but Tony turned away, resentment burning in his chest. “What do you want, Strange?”

“Are you going to jump?”

Tony looked down at the distant ground, his mind automatically calculating the number of floors, the distance, possible trajectory, force of impact…

“An easy escape is more than what I deserve.” He replied as Strange settled down beside him, “Time Stone?”

“Time doesn’t forget.” Stephen said softly, “The backlash was powerful enough to trigger it here. It showed me everything.”

“Convenient.” Tony scoffed, his lips twisting into a sneer. “And why are you here?” He asked coldly because, in a way, it was all Stephen’s fault. “Scared that I might jump?” Tony felt the powerful sorcerer’s gaze but didn’t turn to meet his eyes.

“Or are you here to tell me it had to be done? That it was the only way? That my daughter was the price I had to pay to save this ungrateful universe?”

There was a long moment of silence between them; tense and cold. “It’s not my place to offer any weak platitudes to you, not after what you have gone through.” Stephen replied finally, “Maybe it’s not even fair to be here, not after I set you on this path. Letting you die then would’ve been a kindness.”

And that was true.

Tony felt all his suppressed fury come to the surface, burning his skin and making his body shake. “Did you know?” Because if Strange knew what he had to do to win...

“No.” Stephen’s reply was firm and honest, “I only saw you snapping your fingers and  _ healing _ everything. I didn’t consider the implications." He hesitated, "How many people have we sacrificed to restore what was?”

Tony’s breath froze in his chest. Life didn’t stop after Thanos after all. They weren’t able to do anything for four years. New life was born, new relationships formed, new discoveries were made, new technologies were introduced, tragedy molded rough stone into diamonds… and all of that was now lost.

“I knew the moment I held that blasted stone what it wanted.” Tony confessed, his voice low and shaky, “I knew if I snapped my fingers, it will claim Morgan as its price. It was  _ mocking _ , cruel and soulless.” He closed his eyes, the memory still vivid in his mind, “It showed me just how many souls stood to be saved with one sacrifice. Not thousands, not millions, not billions… countless. Enough people to fill all the oceans on Earth to the brim, enough sentient life to fill the space between Earth and the Sun. Unimaginable.”

Out of the corner of his eyes, Tony saw the sorcerer grow pale. 

“We have our victory, Stephen.” He laughed hollowly, watching as the world moved on in blissful ignorance, “The one in 14,000,605 that you promised. We have it.”

“Tony...”

Tony finally looked Strange in the eye, finding odd comfort in the pain written there. The curse of knowledge… it would ruin them forever. 

“But it is a pyrrhic victory.”

***

‘ _ Tony Stark officially announces his retirement from being Ironman. _ ’

‘ _ Ex-Avengers cut a deal to return to the US, but they’re not getting off lightly _ ’

‘ _ Tony Stark has not been seen for 4 months. Pepper Potts says he is on a sabbatical. _ ’

‘ _ Captain America pleads Tony Stark to return. _ ’

‘ _ Stark heir named. Tony Stark transfers majority ownership to Peter Parker. _ ’

‘“ _ I gave up on him once, I won’t do it again. _ ”  _ Captain America says after months of searching prove futile. _ ’

‘ _ New direction; Pepper Potts and Peter Parker are a formidable team. _ ’

‘ _ Tony Stark presumed dead. _ ’

‘ _ Ironman flies again; Riri Williams takes charge. _ ’

Life moved on and Tony slept, forgotten and broken, in Stephen’s arms.

The price was too high. 

  
  
  
  



End file.
